i am very sorry but 40 years in this business i have never heard of a stifle being open...as in a knee being open on a colt??is he sound?? the only thing you can do for a stifle would be to inject the stifle joint...which has become fairly common in the last few years..please keep us posted ?? thanks

That was my initial reaction as well.Have had plenty of colts with open knees but never a stifle. Like I said he took the pics yesterday and that was his diagnosis. Just said try to go on with him and see if it closes on own. I would think that a joint would have closed by age 4.

I would also have to question the idea of the stifle being open, but here is what has worked for me in the past. First, does he wear borium? Sometimes if they don't, they are slipping enough behind to get them sore. Also, don't train in the mud and go plenty of slow miles. I also hosed them with a cold hose every day and then Geer's used to work wonders, but I am not sure if you can still get it. If not, paint them 3 days in a row with Ball's. I also cut open a trash bag and sweat them up over their back until they sound up. Real old school would have you rub some Palmolive's on them-enough to make about the size of a dime in your palm. This blisters them too. To check to see if it's the stifle for sure, really push and manipulate the muscle between the hip bone and spine. If their stifles are sore, so is this muscle. You can really turn one around by working on sore stifles.

like a knee , you can have an open stifle joint . by 4 years of age they should be closed though . is he a late foal ? injecting an open joint doesn't usually do the job . it might help some but it's not normally what's best for the horse . the one thing most people hate to hear is that time will usually take care of the problem . somethings you just have to let mother nature take care of

i had a mare who raced two twelve who had a stifle open i kept her contesting blister with a good iodine blister had aluminin on be hind and filed the swedge of and she trotted good never made a break for seven years it is very rare that a stifle does not close